Search started for developers for 2,500-home new Swindon village

Strategic land firm Ainscough has begun the hunt for developer to take on a 2,500-home scheme on the edge of Swindon, after finally securing permission for the project last summer.

Ainscough Strategic Land, working on behalf of the landowner, has employed consultant Avison Young to market the Lotmead Farm project to interested developers.

The scheme, part of a series of developments called the New Eastern Villages, sited on the fringe of the Wiltshire town, has outline consent for 2,500-homes plus detailed consent for a 289-home first phase.

Permission was granted for the site last summer after the initial proposals from Ainscough were turned down on appeal in 2018.

The site is reliant for delivery on the construction of the Southern Connector Road, for which £31m of government funding was finally agreed last month.

Avison Young said the site had views to the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the former dairy farm was now operating as a pick-your-own facility and a small business village development.

Gordon Isgrove, principal at Avison Young, said there was good appetite for new housing in Swindon. “We are anticipating strong interest in this development opportunity for the whole scheme of 2,500 dwellings and the first parcel of 36 acres comprising 289 dwellings and the first new primary school,” he said.